IPL 2024: Against GT, Stoinis’ 58 leads LSG to 163
After deciding to bat, the Lucknow Super Giants were looking to start the night game yesterday on a high note. However, Umesh Yadav, the experienced bowler for Gujarat Titans, dealt two early blows to ruin the home team’s strategy.
Due to the fact that LSG opener Quinton de Kock was hitting the second ball six off of Yadav, there seemed to be fireworks in store for the almost packed crowd at Ekana Stadium. However, de Kock was caught in the deep after misfiring in an effort to smash another six.
As if the defeat wasn’t awful enough, Devdutt Padikkal failed to play a strong stroke in the next Yadav over. Not the start LSG captain KL Rahul had hoped for, as the team went down 18-2 in only the third over. From that point on, all of the LSG hitters—Rahul, Marcus Stoinis, and Nicholas Pooran—had to fight. Because spinners Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmed prevented the home batsmen from scoring easily, it was difficult to score runs.
On a slow pitch, LSG was reduced to 163-5 in their 20 overs. Top scorer Stoinis amassed 58 off of 43 balls. Rahul, too, struggled to score runs, managing just 33 off 31 deliveries before giving way to rookie bowler Darshan Nalkande.
Pooran made every effort to get some early runs against Rashid and Noor’s tight bowling. At 32 from 22 balls, he was still undefeated and had hit three sixes. His contribution to LSG’s total meant that the host team would need to bowl well to keep Gujarat Titans from winning.
Brief results: M Stoinis 58, KL Rahul 33, N Pooran 32*; D Nalkande 2-21, U Yadav 2-22) against GT; LSG 163-5 in 20 overs (scores incomplete)
